Nothing wrong with residents speaking their minds

Published 5:46 pm, Friday, October 11, 2013

On Oct. 5, the Connecticut Post ran a front page story on the meeting held at Cesar Batalla Elementary School on Friday, Oct. 4. The article, written by Keila Torres Ocasio, thoroughly described the outrage experienced by the parents when they learned that a shooting range was being constructed in front of the school their children attend every day.

On Oct. 8, the Post published a letter submitted by Mr. Thomas Santa, the president and CEO of Santa Energy. In his letter, Mr. Santa, who according to the Bridgeport Regional Business Council website is the first vice president of the BRBC's board of directors, informs us that he read the Oct. 5 story with "great dismay."

While he may not realize it, in his letter, Mr. Santa does a brilliant job of highlighting the "great divide" that exists in this country, this state and in this city between those in possession of economic and political power and those who remain on the margins.

Mr. Santa, who was not at the meeting, informs us of how discouraged he was "to hear about the lack of decorum at the meeting, and the fact that police officials were not even given a chance to tell their story."

He continues by letting us know that two weeks before writing his letter, he "had the good fortune to be at a meeting of West End businessmen" where the police described the facility to those in attendance.

In her classic masterpiece "To Kill a Mockingbird," author Harper Lee, cautioned that "You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Mr. Santa would do well to take her advice.

Pontificating from his lofty position of privilege, he informs us of just how little he knows about those who make up the 99 percent of this country and who also call Bridgeport home.

Perhaps he is unaware of the fact that all of the children and youth who attend Cesar Batalla Elementary School and Bassick High School qualify for the free lunch/reduced lunch benefit because their parents meet the criteria for families living in poverty.

Perhaps he is unaware that the neighborhood referred to as the West End of Bridgeport suffers from those conditions usually reserved for the least among us. In his book "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt," author Chris Hedges appropriately calls these neighborhoods "capitalism's sacrifice zone," because the people who live in these neighborhoods have no power, either political or economic, and they are trapped in these conditions.

Perhaps he is unaware that people who live disempowered lives are on the edge of despair, and are mustering up all the courage they can to make it through another day. On a daily basis, the residents of this neighborhood, as well as many others in our city, have to deal with the manifestations of disrespect and loss of dignity shown to them by the business, political and elected leaders of their community.

This is because he has not walked in the shoes of parents and residents who are the last to learn that plans are being made by their elected officials, to turn a police precinct into a "shooting range." He has not walked in the shoes of parents whose repeated requests for information are ignored and dismissed.

Mr. Santa, you have done a lot of good things for the city of Bridgeport. You have a successful business and have enjoyed the loyalty of many customers, including my husband and me. On many occasions, you have responded to the needs of a community that boasts that one in every three children live in poverty.

Much research is being done on the lack of empathy among those with material wealth. There is a sense of superiority that comes with having status in our country, just as there is a sense that people living in poverty are lazy and uncaring.

These parents did not show a lack of decorum, Mr. Santa. On the contrary, it was the mayor and the entourage with which he travels that showed a lack of respect to these parents. These parents had established an agenda for their meeting with the mayor. The mayor's efforts to ignore the agenda and hijack the meeting demonstrated a lack of respect to what the parents had hoped to accomplish.

They were expressing their outrage to their elected officials. Even though they lack your standing in this community, they love their children and cannot accept that a "shooting range" was going to be constructed right in front of the children's school. After all, they live only 20 miles away from Newtown, the site of the tragedy that remains alive in all of our memories.

The plans to construct this shooting range had been in place for quite some time. The mayor only paid attention to the parents' request once they sought assistance from a legal professional, on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

It was only then that the mayor called the parents to say that he would come to the school on that Friday to meet with them. He announced to the press, without consulting the parents, that he intended to give them a tour of the facility to ease their fears. Clearly, it was his plan to run the parent's meeting.

Would you permit someone to come to a meeting with an agenda prepared by you, to hijack your meeting at Santa Energy? I doubt it.

You are able to be heard in this city merely by picking up the phone or networking at the BRBC. Others do not have that luxury. However, their attempts to be heard, and speak truth to power, should not be criticized for a perceived lack of decorum.

Perhaps, you can visit the school someday and take a walk in their shoes.